Ex-Lake Forest superintendent's fringe benefits questioned

Harry Griffith retired this summer as superintendent of Lake Forest Elementary District 67 and High School District 115 at an annual salary of $362,000. (Scott Strazzante, Chicago Tribune)

In his job overseeing two small school districts in affluent Lake Forest, Harry Griffith was among the highest paid public school administrators in the state, bringing in $362,000 last academic year alone.

And on top of his regular earnings, Griffith received other benefits at taxpayer expense: The school boards forgave him a $75,000 loan to buy a house; allowed him to travel twice yearly to an educators conference at a California oceanfront resort; and approved bills for hundreds of meals.

Those perks went largely unnoticed in the high-achieving schools' community until the economic downturn prompted residents to complain about the increasing tax burden, and a scandal involving a middle school principal came to light last fall.

Across the state, taxpayers have emerged from the recession more hardened in their response to spending. In Chicago and the suburbs, critics have pushed back against labor unions that seek raises and have demanded more answers about administrative pay and benefits.

Come spring, voters will have their say at the ballot box when schools and municipalities elect new board members. In Lake Forest, a city caucus is to decide on Tuesday whether to renominate incumbents of the two school boards — the usual path there toward election to any local office.

A Tribune review of records filed in Lake Forest Elementary District 67and High School District 115 demonstrates where residents may have cause for concern.

Before retiring over the summer, Griffith touted his dual role as a money-saver, and officials estimated that each district reduced its spending by $600,000 per year by sharing administrators. In 2011, though, the high school district landed on the state's financial warning list after its fund balances took a dip, and teacher salaries were frozen.

By this fall, District 115 teachers who had hoped for bigger raises in part to make up for last year's pay freeze went on strike for five days before settling with the board under the new superintendent.

During Griffith's tenure:

•He served for years on the board of directors for Lake Forest Bank & Trust, a role he maintains, but that created potential conflicts of interest. The bank handles the finances for both school districts and contributes money to a caucus that promotes school board campaigns. The high school district in 2006 spent more than $500,000 to buy property from another director who served alongside Griffith on the board.

•The high school district paid for hotel costs in China for two private businessmen who traveled there in a Griffith-led delegation to recruit Mandarin teachers in 2008. School officials say they aren't sure why the men went on the trip, but three months later, the two businessmen started a for-profit company to teach Mandarin in public schools.

Following recent Tribune inquiries about the hotel bill, the men's company reimbursed the schools $1,965 for their portion of the bill, said Allen Albus,deputy superintendent for finance and operations.

•The elementary district approved an unusual housing loan to another administrator as she sought to sell a house in Naperville after she moved closer to the district.

"There's not enough oversight," said Democratic state Sen. Susan Garrett, a resident of the districts, who reviewed school district documents at the Tribune's request.

She said it is critical that the school districts create policies that outline spending parameters and are open to public view.

"It really comes down to a matter of transparency and being very clear and upfront about what is allowed and isn't allowed," she said.

Questions lingered about Griffith's oversight in part because of controversy that erupted in fall 2011, when the Tribune revealed that a middle school principal had pleaded guilty to electronic harassment in 2009.

At the time the conviction came to light, Griffith had told the Tribune he had been unaware that the messages sent by Principal John Steinert to a college student were sexually explicit. But after Steinert's resignation in November 2011, an internal District 67 investigation revealed that Griffith had been aware of the lewd nature of the texts. Some angry parents also questioned why Griffith and the school board never informed the public about Steinert's conduct.

By the time the Steinert scandal broke, Griffith had already announced his retirement from the two districts. Griffith, now 62 and working as a consultant, according to his wife, has not yet started drawing his pension, according to the state Teachers' Retirement System. Neither TRS nor district officials would say how much Griffith stands to collect, though it's expected to be six figures annually.